I don't really think this is as weird as you think it is. The key part is "non-trivial." Speaking as a current university student, the vast majority (>90%) of required coursework is trivial and can be easily summed up within a page or two of text per class. The ability to figure out what couple paragraphs are going to be tested on and to regurgitate them on demand is really all you need to get a passing grade for a significant percentage of your college career. Figuring that out over a period of a few days doesn't exactly require a superhuman effort, and is (in my experience) quite common. Cramming isn't a new phenomenon, and computers make it significantly easier to find a bunch of information and memorize it for a few days (before forgetting everything.)

Of course, that is not to say that there are not courses that require greater diligence - but they're often avoidable, and a student can compensate by putting effort into those specific classes. Or simply cheating.

It can be done sometimes, I done it for my 4th year OS course. Pretty much a day of cramming, sleepless night + uppers + .. = A-. Trouble is I remembered or learned absolutely nothing from it. For the record I loved university, but that particular course was taught by a prof who had no business teaching anything to anyone(great researcher absolutely terrible teacher) so I could not bring myself to come to class